Establishment of a shear stress protocol to study the mechanosensitivity of human primary osteogenic cells in vitro

We report here the establishment of a protocol to study the influence of mechanical stress on the behavior of primary human osteogenic cells. We first developed a method for the specific isolation of human bone marrow osteoprogenitors and studied their potential of differentiation into osteoblasts in vitro. Then, using NIH-3T3 cells as a model for cells of mesenchymal origin, we employed a parallel plate flow chamber apparatus to apply shear stress to cells in culture. This technique will be useful to determine the influence of shear stress on the rate of proliferation and differentiation of human osteoprogenitors and osteoblasts. Ultimately, this line of research will extend our knowledge on osteogenesis and bone remodeling.